Friday, 11th February 2011 at 18:30

Just a couple of days ago we were excited to see the first fresh paint being tested on the grey walls of Sleeping Beauty Castle, with just a modest construction of scaffolding on the walkway beneath the fairytale landmark’s drawbridge. Fast forward a few days and the photo above sent in to DLRP Today by Caryl, shows rapid progress with preparation for the full-scale refurbishment ahead as scaffolding begins to climb around the castle walls on both sides of the bridge (which was fully refurbished last year).

Think that shows big things are ahead? Well just take a look a the latest progress yesterday, with scaffolding decks now wrapped right across the front of Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, covering the majority of its stone walls…

Now we have to wait and see how this breach on the fairytale kingdom is to be covered up. A huge “bache” tarpaulin covering with a photo-realistic image of the castle printed onto it seems the most likely option, having been used for recent castle refurbishments at the other Disney parks (notably Magic Kingdom), as well as at Disney Studio 1 and on less important structures at Disneyland Paris. Though the refurbishment was apparently due to begin late last year or early in January, it was most recently stated to last from March to September, so seeing this amount of scaffolding this soon is quite a surprise.

Comments

GUTTED! Was really hoping this refurb wouldn’t be so drastic while my family visit in a month’s time. However, I do understand the neccessity. Also not happy that Pirates is down at the same time – I was so looking forward to taking my nephew on one of my fave rides. However… I guess it’s just a perfect excuse to revisit sooner than later!

I do hope so – Summer is one of the main seasons for the park and to see the central attraction and symbol of Disney receiving some TLC may come across badly to the public; despite its need for improvements.

Possibly finish the exterior before summer and then work on the inside throughout the season; so not to disrupt photos etc.

I’m gutted too! I’ve been waiting to visit disneyland Paris since it opened, I’ve been to every other disney park in the world and I am finally coming to Europe next month, Paris is my favourite of all the castles, very sad that I will not get to see it properly!

The Castle was certainly in need of some TLC, especially the back as seen from Fantasyland, which was looking very tatty in January. The snow probably didn’t help either.
Glad to see it being started so quickly, so maybe the front at least will be clear by summer for photos.
I do hope that it stays subtle though, and not too bright and garish. Don’t want it looking tacky.

The new festival starts in April so it’s got to be finished by then presumably. With the kind of festival it’s going to be they can’t really launch it in the Studios behind closed doors again.
Fingers crossed it’s done before then!

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